Panel talk: Archiving Sounds from the Maghrib and Beyond

They reacted and responded to artist and filmmaker Younès Ben Slimane’s work on show, touching on themes of the migration, architecture and the built environment, and asked why we archive, what importance it holds for those in the SWANA region and what sounds have emerged out of the Maghrib.

ZHF also asked the panellists to co-curate a mix responding to Ben Slimane’s work and the themes explored in his work, spanning field recordings to Tunisian Folk and Stambeli music. The panellists spoke through some of their selections on the mix, which was played during the evening and available afterwards for free.

About Dalia Al-Dujaili

Dalia Al-Dujaili is a freelance writer, editor and producer based in London, with work in the Guardian, GQ Middle East, WePresent and more. She is the founder of The Road to Nowhere magazine.

About Olivia Melkonian

Olivia Melkonian is a producer, DJ and sound artist who has worked across radio, record labels, film production and the cultural sector. Invested in projects of cultural preservation, Olivia archives dialect, ritual and collective memory with a focus on family and the home. Through her practice, she presents memory as a tool of resistance and recording as an act of revolution.

About Cheb Mimo

Mohamed Bel Hadj, better known as Cheb Mimo, is a dynamic and dedicated selector, music researcher, resident radio host on NTS Radio, curator, and writer, with a specialisation in North African music.